Americorps Is Coming

AmeriCorps is Coming!'' announced a mailing sent out by the
Corporation for National and Community Service earlier this year
inviting educational institutions to propose programs that would serve
communities and provide tuition benefits to participants.

In response, school and college administrators, along with state
officials, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and others, have
prepared grant proposals for the three entities that fall under the
corporation's general purview: AmeriCorps, President Clinton's new
national-service program; Learn and Serve America, a program
strengthening service-learning in schools and colleges; and Summer of
Safety, a program involving young people in crime-prevention efforts in
local communities.

As part of this national effort, Learn and Serve America programs
are offering special opportunities to involve school-age youths in
service-learning. For example, the K-12 school-based and
community-based Learn and Serve America programs will fund projects
that integrate service-learning into both daily school activities and
community-based programming that meet local, educational,
public-safety, human, and environmental needs.

The amount of funding is not trivial. In fiscal 1994, $30 million
will be available through Learn and Serve America for teacher training,
for the placement of service-learning coordinators in schools, and for
grants to local partnerships through state education agencies, state
commissions, and grant-making entities. The aim is to enable
participants to reflect on their service experiences in ways that will
enhance their academic learning, civic responsibility, and community
problem-solving skills.''

Corporation officials want to "get things done'' as soon as
possible, and the proposals no doubt will promise short-term impacts in
the community. (The deadline for proposals for the K-12 school-based
Learn and Serve America program was April 29, 1994; the deadline for
the K-12 community-based projects is May 27, 1994. Deadline for the
state portion of the AmeriCorps National Service program is June 15,
1994.) But will these initiatives improve the institutional
infrastructure for service-learning, develop durable linkages between
school and community, and have lasting significance?

What are the characteristics of school-based programs that combine
service and learning over the long haul? Institutions with successful
programs address some combination of the following:

Systematic planning: Service-learning takes serious planning at
the school and in the community: What do we want to accomplish, and
how will we do it? What resources are available and needed? What are
our strategic strengths, and what forces may limit our efforts?

Varieties of service: Students may work in homeless shelters and
tutor in the schools, but will they also register new voters and
mobilize grassroots groups for social change? Will any effort to
solve problems or meet needs be acceptable?

Capabilities of community agencies: Some agencies meet community
needs and accommodate students better than others. Agency
capabilities--for example, to fit assignments to students and provide
quality supervision--are essential to the learning process.

Adequate agency resources: Agencies require time, money, and
personnel to provide high-quality learning experiences for students.
Does the agency have travel money, office space, and regular hours to
consult with students?

Orientation and training: Students are unequal in their readiness
for service and need planned orientation and specific skills to
function effectively and learn from experience.

Clear expectations: Service-learning benefits from a written
contract negotiated by the student and the supervisor in conjunction
with a liaison from the school. This document establishes a plan for
specific assignments, clarifies role relationships, and promotes
accountability.

Meaningful responsibilities: In contrast with "classroom''
learning and "routine'' volunteering--such as answering telephones
and making photocopies--meaningful service has real impacts. It has
potential to genuinely challenge students and strengthen their social
responsibility.

In-service reflection: Service-learning is a process in which
people serve the community, reflect critically upon the experience,
and derive lessons for the future. It takes skilled facilitation to
pose awakening questions, analyze root causes of problems, and
develop awareness of solutions.

Quality supervision: Competent supervisors have knowledge of the
community, skills in working with students, and commitment to the
learning process. Top practitioners are not always the best field
instructors.

Program coordination: Service-learning is a professional field
that requires qualified coordinators, but they need an institutional
infrastructure with sufficient capacity to support this
function.

Community participation: Community development starts with people
assessing their needs, setting their goals, and planning programs of
their choosing. But how many schools involve the community as true
partners in service-learning?

Strengthening social diversity: Service-learning can strengthen
respect for social diversity by engaging students in activities with
people who are different from themselves. Since many students come
from homogeneous backgrounds that limit their social contact, special
efforts are required to develop their multicultural competence.

Evaluation: As a systematic process, evaluation--of the student,
supervisor, service outcomes, and learning performance--has short-
and long-term benefits for developing capacity in the school and in
the community.

In short, successful service-learning takes more than a proposal to
the Corporation for National and Community Service. The key is neither
to show results nor get a government grant, but to build institutional
infrastructure, develop durable linkages between school and community,
and show results over time.

Corporation officials are anxious to "get things done,'' and school
administrators want to write winning proposals. Community
service-learning is not measured by a semester or summer, but by
continuing commitment and lasting significance over the long haul.

Further information on the national-service program and the funding
appropriations for fiscal 1994 is available by calling (800)
942-2677.

Barry Checlwway is a professor of social work and urban planning at the University of Michigan.

Vol. 13, Issue 33, Page 34

Published in Print: May 11, 1994, as Americorps Is Coming

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